Quote

I never write fewer than sixteen headlines for a single advertisement.

David Ogilvy

Change background

T
T
T

Change font

TAGS & TOPICS

David Ogilvy
Age: 88 †
Born: 1911
Born: June 23
Died: 1999
Died: July 21
Businessman
Businessperson
Economist
Writer
West Horsley
Surrey
David MacKenzie Ogilvy
Writing
Never
Advertisement
Advertisements
Headlines
Sixteen
Fewer
Single
Write

More quotes by David Ogilvy

Image
Lazy and superficial men and women do not produce superior work.
David Ogilvy
Image
Write the way you talk. Naturally.
David Ogilvy
Image
Readers travel so fast they don't stop to decipher the meaning of obscure headlines.
David Ogilvy
Image
What you learn is more important than what you earn.
David Ogilvy
Image
Ninety-nine percent of advertising doesn't sell much of anything.
David Ogilvy
Image
Encourage innovation. Change is our lifeblood, stagnation our death knell.
David Ogilvy
Image
I never assign a product to a writer unless I know that he is personally interested in it. Every time I have written a bad campaign, it has been because the product did not interest me.
David Ogilvy
Image
The most important word in the vocabulary of advertising is TEST. If you pretest your product with consumers, and pretest your advertising, you will do well in the marketplace.
David Ogilvy
Image
Creativity needs discipline and freedom.
David Ogilvy
Image
I don't believe in tricky advertising, I don't believe in cute advertising, I don't believe in comic advertising. The people who perpetrate that kind of advertising never had to sell anything in their lives
David Ogilvy
Image
Creativity Is a fancy word for the work we have to do by Friday.
David Ogilvy
Image
The manufacturer who finds himself up the creek is the short-sighted opportunist who siphons off all his advertising dollars for short-term promotions.
David Ogilvy
Image
Set exorbitant standards, and give your people hell when they don't live up to them. There is nothing so demoralizing as a boss who tolerates second rate work.
David Ogilvy
Image
The more story-appeal there is in the picture or in the photograph, the more people would look at your ad
David Ogilvy
Image
If you ever have the good fortune to create a great advertising campaign, you will soon see another agency steal it. This is irritating, but don't let it worry you nobody has ever built a brand by imitating somebody else's advertising.
David Ogilvy
Image
Every advertisement should be thought of as a contribution to the complex symbol which is the brand image.
David Ogilvy
Image
Compete with the immortals
David Ogilvy
Image
If you tell lies about a product, you will be found out - either by the Government, which will prosecute you, or by the consumer, who will punish you by not buying your product a second time.
David Ogilvy
Image
If you ever find a man who is better than you are - hire him. If necessary, pay him more than you pay yourself.
David Ogilvy
Image
...consumers do not buy one brand of soap, or coffee, or detergent. They have a repertory of four or five brands, and move from one to another. They almost never buy a brand which has not been admitted to their repertory during its first year on the market.
David Ogilvy